


The Errant Harrier

by BadgertheThirteenth



Category: Starbound (Video Game)
Genre: Death, Gen, Injury, Mild Blood, Original Character(s), Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-13 07:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16012820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadgertheThirteenth/pseuds/BadgertheThirteenth
Summary: Vina Kovalsky, an apex rebel against the oppressive Miniknog, narrowly escapes disaster with naught but a damaged ship and an encrypted datacard that must be decoded and find its way into the right hands.  But it is no easy task, and though she is reluctant to do so, she needs as many allies as she can get.Backstory for askvinaandcompany.tumblr.com.  Sporadic updates.  Will try to get a chapter out each week.





	1. Starbound

**Author's Note:**

> A fair warning, this story is a somewhat realistic take on Starbound, insomuch as there's no respawning, injuries have actual effects, pain and blood exists, and there's 3 dimensions of movement and layout. Some minor creative liberties have been taken with design elements to compensate. Otherwise, I'll try to stick to 'canon' as much as I can.

Vina stared back at the dirty reflection in the mirror, and she stroked her recently shaved chin. Unusual as it was for an apex to do so, she found having excessive hair to be more of a nuisance than anything. She sighed as she scratched at it, then thumbed at an obstinate spot of dirt on the mirror before giving up.

It was a far cry from the military facilities she had been in before, and her new quarters were hardly pristine - a rough-hewn dirt wall with hardwood planks along the ground to give the illusion of a proper floor. A carpet, frayed and faded, was laid across most of it, and above the important facilities some more wood had been placed to prevent dirtying them up, at least in theory. She was assured all of it was temporary, but it had scarcely changed in the few months she had been here.

At least the bed was soft.

Vina laid down on it, adjusting the hem of her military-issue skirt despite having no reason to do so. She had kept her old naval uniform, but had it modified enough as to be distinguishable from loyal Miniknog so the resistance cell she was with wouldn't shoot her.

Not that they weren't suspicious of her. She was new, and she still had elements of her military background shining through, but she still had ample enough reason to join their cause. She had suffered at the hands of the Miniknog, performed unspeakable acts in their name, and wanted to escape that life as quickly as possible.

Easier said than done, but at least she had this crew to fall back on.

As she finally closed her eyes to rest, the deafening roar of a breaching charge echoed throughout the dusty caverns, knocking loose clumps of dirt to the hardwood floor. Shouting followed afterwards, and then the alarms.

By the time the shouting had started, Vina had already lept to her feet and quickly donned some basic armour over her uniform, snatching a shotgun from a nearby shelf. The piercing klaxon continued as she slammed the door to her quarters open with a shoulder, and she would have doubled over when a fleeing apex nearly ran into her, if not for her reflexes.

“What's going on?!” she bellowed, snatching another armoured apex by their arm.

“They're here!”

“Damn it,” Vina spat, “how the hell did they find us?!”

“I don't know, but we gotta hold them off!” The soldier pulled his arm from her grip and returned it to his rifle, running towards where the cacophony of gunfire and roars echoed out. Vina sprinted after him, double-checking to see if her shotgun's safety was firmly set to off.

Hasty barricades had been set up further down in what would have been the forward sentry post. It was little more than overturned wooden and iron tables, but it would be enough to halt small-arms fire. Vina took cover behind a metal table, using the brief reprieve to fix the straps of her armour so they would fit comfortably.

The comms officer by her side yelled out the count of the hostiles, and Vina gave a look over their own defences. Some turrets hanging on the roof, and at least six combatants including herself. Compared to the encroaching two-dozen or so Miniknog soldiers plus armoured support, it wasn't looking good.

The familiarity of the terrain, though, might be enough. If nothing else, falling back to safer ground would be better.

The turrets chirped and opened fire ahead of them, the sound of bullets striking armour and flesh following. Vina peeked out of cover, spotting the uniformed ranks of Miniknog soldiers who were already returning fire to the turrets.

One of the resistance soldiers roared the order to open fire, and Vina did exactly that. Her shotgun might not have the range advantage, but the underslung grenade launcher did.

It didn't seem to do much, however. As one of the turrets collapsed under the weight of fire, the hostile soldiers marched ahead almost in unison, a trudging mechsuit following afterwards. Any slight advantage the resistance had was quickly and indisputably shattered, much like the wooden furniture, when the mech opened fire and sprayed heavy-caliber shot into them. Vina had seen the gruesome results of this weapon before, but she would never get used to it.

As the vox officer beside her turned into more red mist than apex, she ordered a fall back. To cover their retreat, she landed a grenade onto the canopy of the mech to obscure the pilot’s vision, hopefully daze them.

It was mostly successful. A couple more of her allies were punctured by the heavy rounds or some fire from the soldiers, but at least three of them had reached fleeting safety.

“What do we do?!” one of the apex asked, panicking and panting in equal measure.

“Hold them off until the others can escape!” the other growled, raising her rifle and turning back to where they had fled from. Vina pressed a hand on the top of the rifle and lowered it slightly.

“If you're looking to die, then go ahead, but we need as many people alive as possible.” Vina nodded towards the deeper caverns. “We need to make our way to a more defensible position.”

“Right,” the aggressive apex said, and goaded the nervous one along with her. The trio retreated further, Vina trying to ignore the sound of the mech growing louder behind them.

The most defended position they had, unsurprisingly, was the command centre itself. Their commander, an older apex with stark white hair, stood on the centre platform, a rocket launcher slung over their shoulder. Sturdier barricades had been set up around the platform, more numerous automated defences lined the walls, and plenty of traps had been prepared in the event that they managed to get inside the room.

Vina felt a bullet whizz past her ear and she froze.

“Kazov, hold fire!” the commander barked. “Status report!”

Vina lept over cover as the two who joined her took place behind it. “Not good, sir. Two units of soldiers and a mechsuit with an autocannon, plus whatever reinforcements they have.”

“Blast it all,” the commander sighed. “This won't be an easy fight.”

“Do we have a fallback plan?”

“We have a ship, a basic one. If we can't hold them off, we'll evacuate to it.” The commander looked poignantly over the others. “If nothing else, we have data the resistance needs.”

Vina nodded grimly, and slid herself down into cover. Just in time, too.

Gunfire chattered out from the main hallway, with the resistance lines returning fire, with rockets and grenades thrown in for good measure. There was no telling how effective it actually was, but given the lessening retaliation, they had either killed plenty of them, or they had done the smart thing and taken cover.

Almost in slow motion, Vina spotted a small orange glow attached to a metal object being hurled in their direction. Her first instinct was to jump out of the blast range, but in the mere moments she had to examine it, she knew that wouldn't help.

“Homing beacon!” she cried as she fired the shotgun at the orb. The pellets scattered and clipped it, but that wasn't enough to break it.

An all-too-familiar burst of light and sound accompanied the teleporting figure of an elite Miniknog soldier, who immediately turned and fired at the closest resistance member - her - with a heavy pistol.

She spun her body around to avoid the shot, but it still struck her in the arm. Pain and jolts of lightning shot through the blow to her arm and she screamed, dropping her shotgun. The follow up shot to her leg dropped her to the ground, the taste of dirt and blood filling her mouth, her body convulsing with the electricity sparking through her body.

Ineffectual as it may be, she used the strength in her unwounded limbs to hurl herself at the soldier, drawing a knife from a sheath on her boot. The momentum of a fully-grown apex tackling them was enough to barrel them over, and the repeated stabs in the neck finished them off, red liquid dripping from the knifepoint and the open wound

More teleporting figures emerged, less armoured than the one she had killed but no less armed. One of them turned and shot at her, adrenaline giving her just enough time to avoid the shot, snatch up the deceased’s pistol and put a few rounds into their torso. The recoil jolted her injury and nearly caused her to drop the gun, but the soldier fell to the ground, clutching his wounds and howling in pain.

Vina lifted herself up to her feet, but her leg nearly gave out. The other elite soldiers who had teleported in were busy fighting the rest of the resistance fighters, or tending to injuries suffered. The commander had joined the fight as well, brandishing a heavy two-handed axe.

Vina reached for some salve, or bandages, or anything on her person, but found nothing. Cursing her poor luck, she limped up to the centre platform, finding a medical kit.

Then the roof shook. A high-pitched whine could just be heard following it, muffled by the dirt and stone.

“Orbital bombardment!” she cried out.

The roof broke apart. Chunks of earth rained down from abovd, slamming down on resistance and the few remaining elite hostiles with equal measure. Vina barely had time to grab the medical kit and throw herself to the ground to avoid a falling chunk of stone.

Natural light shone through the cavern, blindingly bright to her bleary eyes. She hoisted herself to her feet once again, coughing sod from her throat.

“Vina!”

She snapped her gaze around, spotting the commander pulling himself from the ground, only to fall flat. A quick look over saw bone jutting from a leg. She hobbled over, dragging the medkit with her.

“Get to the ship,” he grunted, coughing. He reached into the pocket of his altered uniform and held out a datacard, which Vina took. “This has all the data we've gathered but can't decrypt… get it…” He coughed again, flecks of red peppering his hand. Vina put a hand on his shoulder.

“We can get you to the ship too!”

“No time,” the commander roared in pain. “Get who you can and go!”

Vina looked up, and saw the looming silhouette of a high-class apex ship shadowing the sun. Her gaze returned to the commander, who nodded to her.

She spotted the two-handed axe laying close by, and she snatched it up. The commander seemed to have no objections, though winced a little when she leaned on it to support her injured leg. “It was an honour, sir.”

“Safe travels,” the commander wheezed, before his eyes shut and he laid where he was. Exhausted, dead, or just taking a moment to recover, Vina was unsure of, as she turned and limped further into the cavern. She barked an order for those still mobile to join her, and with haste, many more apex started to rise from the ground and follow her.

Too late, however, as beam of orange-white energy lanced downwards from the hole in the roof, accompanied with a horrifying thrum that drowned out all noise; if there were any chance for the victims to scream, they wouldn't be heard. 

Only herself and two others were far enough away to avoid the same fate.

The cavern ahead stretched out longer than it already felt as she, and the two remaining resistance members, limped and hobbled further. The ship, in desperate need of maintenance, soon came into view as they reached where a makeshift dock had been built. The two apex aided Vina up the ramp, and once inside she dropped the medical kit and turned around to aid the others in.

One of the apex, the female, turned and leveled a pistol at the other's head. Before a word could be said, the gun fired, and he dropped. They then turned towards Vina and smirked.

Vina drew her pistol, but not quickly enough to avoid a shot to her gut. While her armour slowed the shot down, it still struck hard. She roared as she slammed against the cold metal floor cheek-first.

This one must have been a professional. She took no time in gloating, and instead moved into the ship, likely to finish the job.

Her mistake. Vina threw her body up, using the momentum to slam her forehead into her jaw. The traitor swore and staggered back, giving her enough time to throw a wild punch into their chest that unbalanced her just enough to send her falling off the ramp.

Gasping from the pain and exertion, she slammed the hatch's button to close it, glaring at her as the ramp receded. The traitor apex stood up, slamming her hands on the external switch - which Vina quickly disabled - and screamed through bloodied teeth at the glass panel. Vina took her leave of them for now, snatching up the medkit and limping to the command chair.

It had been some months since she had been in a ship's cockpit, but muscle memory flooded back. She pulled a needle of painkillers from the medkit and jabbed it into her leg, just so she could concentrate as she keyed in the coordinates for the next star system over, one the Miniknog wouldn't dare to travel to.

Then she took the controls and guided the ship out of the wide cavern. She smirked at the mental image of the traitor being burnt to a crisp by the engines. The vessel soon emerged from the cave, and the moment it had reached orbital distance - and narrowly avoided being shot out of the sky in the process - she punched the FTL.

The ship took control of the rest, but the on-board AI warned her of the lack of maintenance on the drives and the possibility for them to be damaged after the jump. She dismissed it as she took out some bandages and salve from the medkit and began to apply them. The liquid stung briefly but soon became soothingly cool, and the bandages would assure that no more blood would pour out.

Once all her injuries were tended to, as best they could be anyway, she took count of her inventory. Her newly-acquired pistol, the two-handed axe, the partially-depleted medical kit, the datacard, and whatever was stored in the ship's locker that she could check later.

She was safe, the painkillers had set in, and while she'd need proper medical attention, she wasn't going to bleed out. The adrenaline waned from her system, and if it weren't for the painkillers she would have felt sore. Instead, she only felt stiff.

With no more comfortable alternative, she opted to pass out in the chair.


	2. Welcome to the Outpost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vina finally finds brief respite at the Outpost, meets a couple of strangers, and struggles with her heightened sense of paranoia.

Vina had never been so thankful to taste filtered air, but after spending hours underground, it was pleasantly cool, refreshing, and more importantly, wasn't filled with dirt and dust.

The last few hours hadn't been easy. The ship's FTL had become damaged in the hasty escape, food supplies on her ship had been scarce, and her wounds had, in the process of exploring the planet her ship was orbiting, opened up and had began bleeding again, requiring further first aid.

If it wasn't for the ancient alien portal that just so happened to be present on the planet, the abandoned mine that had the supplies the ship's S.A.I.L. had insisted she needed to fix it, and the destination it had lead to, she would have been squatting in her ship or a wooden hut on the surface, waiting for the inevitable.

But here she was, floating on an asteroid settlement that was fittingly called the Outpost, breathing in the artificial air and eating food she hadn't needed to hunt for herself. Unfortunately there were no showers she could find, which she so desperately needed, but she had spent a little bit of the money she had saved up to be able to install one on her ship.

Maybe it was her nerves getting the better of her, or the days - or perhaps weeks - of isolation playing tricks on her, but while she walked around to supply herself, she felt that all eyes were fixed on her. She logically knew it had to be from her dishevelled appearance, but memories of that one traitor flickered into her mind and she couldn't be sure.

And, she surmised, she was being followed. Not by another apex, thankfully, but a blue-glowing biped, a novakid that was doing a terrible job at making himself hidden. Her eyes tracked where he was from the faint shadow that his shining body made, and tried to use whatever reflections she could to see what he was doing.

She sighed. Maybe she really _was_ being paranoid.

To make matters worse, she was utterly and entirely lost. She was directed to head to the ‘back’ of the Outpost to see someone named Penguin Pete to fix her ship, but the sprawl of contraband supplies was maze-like and dark, making the light of the novakid that much clearer but doing little to aid her navigation.

She found herself in a dead end. She cursed the lack of clear direction she was given, and the lack of foresight for any signs to help guide others. With a growl, spun on her heal and stepped forward, slamming face-first into the chin of the novakid she all but briefly forgot about. She staggered back and clutched her throbbung forehead while the novakid fell onto his rear end with a surprised grunt.

“The hell was that fer?” he asked, drawling in his strange, resonant voice. He looked up at her, his face naught more than a chunk of metal in the shape of a triangle, yet he somehow managed to convey confusion through it.

Vina resisted the urge to pull her gun from her holster, until in her tired but keen gaze she saw the metal of his own pistol in his hand. He held up his hands when her weapon levelled with his head and squeaked. “Woah, hey now partner-”

“Why were you following me?” Vina growled, resting her free hand under the grip of her pistol, wincing when she felt one of her bandaged wounds strain a little. 

“I weren't followin’ you!” the novakid shouted back, standing back on his feet and holstering his weapon. “Well, okay, I was but-” the pistol got closer to his metal face “-wouldja put that damn thing down?!”

Vina narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth. “Did somebody hire you to follow me?”

The novakid made a noise that was similar to a sigh. “I ain't hired by nobody, I'm here on my own. Well, okay, I gotta friend but he ain't payin’ me to fight you.”

“Then why were you following me?”

“I'm lost!” the novakid shouted. “Ain't got no idea where in the hell I am. Only Thorny knows remembers what this place is like, he's been here a lot, already knows a lot about here including somethin’ ‘bout penguins-”

“Answer the question.” Vina kept her grip steady, biting back the pain.

“Sure you're alright? You look like a fluffalo been run over by a-”

“Answer! Now!”

“I was gonna ask you fer directions but you kept moving! So I was followin’ you t'see if you'd lead me t’the right place.”

Vina sighed, and more from necessity than anything, she lowered her pistol and put a hand against her wounded chest. No blood, but she should really see a medic before she injured herself further. “You should have said something rather than just follow me.”

“I…” the novakid raised a finger to object, but dipped it after a while. “Huh. Whoops.”

Vina shook her head. “Yeah. _Whoops_. Now if you excuse me, I need to go and get my ship fixed.”

“Hey, you want me to come with?”

Vina raised an eyebrow, glancing sideways at him as she walked past. “I'm not looking for companionship, thank you.”

“Well, alright then! Have fun!”

Vina shook her head, and as she rounded the corner she heard “now where in the heck am I?”

* * *

Some long minutes later, she had found the right place. Surprisingly, Penguine Pete wasn't a penguin, but a human who spent a lot of time around the little flightless birds. He had informed her that he could fix the FTL drive, especially with the recent (barely-explained) events at a nearby lunar mining facility being dealt with. The only hiccup was the payment for it.

While the mechanical and electronic work were within what she could afford, paying for a new Erchius crystal was far beyond. A few days of underground mining for gold, silver and diamonds would hopefully suffice for payment, however.

Medical attention was sorely needed if she was going to even think about it, and with her attempts at patching herself up starting to fail on her, that was a higher priority.

She thumbed the encrypted drive in her pocket. Once she had her ship fixed, her wounds healed, and supplies gathered, she could focus on it, but there was no point if she died before she could leave.

As she just about limped through the deeper parts of the Outpost in search of the listed medical facility, she felt her body being yanked to the side, tumbling into a dark alleyway, and she was face-down on the detritus-coated metal floors before she realised that a pair of strong arms were responsible for it.

Those same arms hoisted her up before she could recover, and slammed her against the wall, causing her to cry out as her wounds were jolted. When her vision finally returned, she saw the blurry figure of a massive apex barely contained in their Miniknog-labeled jumpsuit, snarling at her before throwing her further down into the alleyway. She slid on loose papers and rubbish until she came to a halt a little distance further.

“Give me the drive, and my friend will kill you quickly,” he rumbled as he stomped over to her. “Refuse, and I will continue to have my fun.”

Vina coughed, staggering back to her feet as a patch of blood grew on her damaged uniform. She became aware of another set of footsteps behind her, but didn't turn to look. “Go to hell.”

“Not going to try to say anything witty?” He almost sounded disappointed.

Vina spat, ignoring the red colour of the glob. “Why waste time on a dead man?”

“Much better,” the apex said as it charged forward, shoulder first. Vina drew her pistol but rather than fire it immediately, she waited until he was right in front of her before she sidestepped out of the way. However, as her injured leg decided to give the moment she put her weight on it and she plummeted onto her back, she realised her plan wasn't nearly as well-thought out as she would have liked.

The apex, however, barreled past her with a look of surprise, managing to slow himself before he hit the nearest wall. Glaring daggers at her, he turned on his heels to walk over to her.

His mistake for trying to be intimidating. Vina raised her pistol in one hand and put a shot right into his neck. The electrical currents coursed through him from the wound, firing every motor neuron it could and halting him in his tracks. While he shuddered, Vina swung out with her good leg to sweep them off their feet. That took a lot more effort than she thought, and even though she brought him down to the ground with a heavy thud, she had found herself at a vulnerable angle.

An angle that the apex’ friend, who seemed to manifest from the shadows themselves, was keen to exploit with a heavy boot to her back, pinning her onto her front by her chest. Growling, Vina noted how faceplanting was frustratingly common for her, as she felt a gun barrel press against her temple.

“Any last word, rebel scum?”

“Feast on your own excrement,” Vina defiantly spat, “you son of a common whore.”

“Wish you fought as good as you talk sh-” the rest of his sentence was naught more than gurgling, and she felt both the pressure of the boot and the cold presence of the gun barrel lift away. The apex slumped beside her, and she turned her head to see. An arrow jutted out from his neck, and his face was contorted in confusion, shock and pain.

Saved by a hunting implement. How unusual.

She brought herself up to her knees, struggling to stand up further without anything to lean on. The other apex roared in anguish and unbridled fury, which only became more primal when a second arrow flew out and stuck into their shoulder.

Vina craned her neck to see the source of the primitive projectiles. A massive humanoid silhouetted at the threshold to the alleyway, holding a bow and with a quiver across their back. Given their gleaming black eyes and leaflike hair shape, she figured they were a floran.

The apex roared again and sprinted towards the floran, but as a gunshot rang out they fell to the ground with a crunch. A high pitched drone rang out, but as a few more shots were fired into the apex while it struggled to stand up, the droning changed pitch and she soon realised it was a whooping battlecry from the second emerging silhouette.

She almost immediately recognised them from voice alone.

“Hey, look Thorny, ‘zat apex lady I was tellin’ you ‘bout!”

Vina groaned, but nevertheless stood herself up, with aid of the nearest wall, as she eyed the dead or dying apex. “Thank you for the timely intervention.”

“Floran isss jussst glad you are sssafe,” the larger of the two figures hissed. He walked over to her, offering a green hand. “Let Floran help.”

She shook her head, regretting doing that near-immediately as her vision swam, and continued to use the wall to support her weight as she moved past. “Nngh, thank you, but I can manage on my own.”

“You should let usss take you to the Outpossst's medic.” The heavy footfalls of the floran stepped after her, but stopped when she snapped a glare at him.

“I'm already making my way there.”

The novakid, definitely the same one as before, groaned and stepped in front of her. “Yer leg's been hit and you gotta climb stairs t'get up there, we can carry you-”

Vina growled softly, rubbing her eyes with a spare hand. “Listen, while I do appreciate the help with saving me, I can, and would much prefer to, do this on my own. Now, please, step aside.”

The novakid, through body language alone, looked shocked. The direction of his head shifted between her and his floran friend, then he shrugged and stepped away from the wall. “You got moxie, I'll give you that. Iffin’ that means so much to ya, go on.”

“Thank you.”

She continued to limp, pain lancing with every step she had to make, from wounds old and new. She was starting to regret not taking up the offer, but she had to keep her secret closely guarded. She couldn't trust these two to keep their mouths shut and bring the Miniknog crashing down on her - hell, they had already found her here without any mention of it. 

“Twen'y pixels says she can't make it into the hall proper.”

“Floran isss not taking bet.”

Rolling her eyes, Vina reached the end of the alleyway and ran out of wall to lean on. She could move to the other side of the alleyway and use that wall around the corner to move, but that would put too much weight on the wrong leg. The only other option she had, however, was to throw herself across the corridor and use that wall to support her as she limped to the medical centre.

It was going to suck either way, but the second was the more efficient path to take. So, after taking a deep breath and ignoring the witticisms of the novakid, she stepped off the wall and moved as quickly as she could to the far wall.

It was at that point her strength decided to give out entirely. She felt the almost-too-familiar sensation of falling forwards, landing head-first and blacking out before she could feel the pain of her impact.

* * *

Not a second later, she opened her eyes, greeted not with the floor but the sterile white of a medical facility.

Or a torture facility.

Her anxiety was quickly calmed by the fact that she was entirely mobile and unrestrained, aside from a little bit of stiffness across her body from post-adrenaline fatigue.

“Apex isss awake,” came the surprisingly gentle hiss of the floran to her side. Now that he was in good light, she could get a good look at his features. Aside from a tremendous frame and a fairly dull green colouration, he was a typical example of his kind - big black eyes that belied his kind's carnivorous intent, a closed mouth with rows of needle-like teeth, and a leafy texture across the skin. The foliage on top of his head was entirely composed of dark green leaves, and his garments were simple pieces of steel or iron, hammered into shape and strapped with leather.

His expression was soft, though the grin he made wasn't nearly as comforting with the aformentioned teeth being visible. “Did Apex sssleep well?”

Vina shrugged as she looked her body over. She was as dressed as she could be so whoever was in charge here could tend to her injuries, which in this case was some nondescript underwear and a bloodied singlet, carrying a few holes made from the wounds.

The injuries themselves, aside from some largely superficial scarring, were entirely patched up. She sighed with relief as she sat up, stretching out her arms and shoulders. “How long was I out for?”

“A couple of hours,” came the voice from beside her, the slight warble typical of the hylotl it belonged to. She was outrageously coloured in tones of blue and purple, with a strange arrangement of fins on their head, yet pulled off a quite professional look regardless. “Your floran and novakid friends brought you in here. They wouldn't- no, sorry, _couldn't_ tell me what happened with you, aside from the fight in the alleyway, but you don't need to tell me anything you don't want to.”

“Right…” Vina put on a simple smile as she stepped off the bed, stretching her body in full. The floran turned his head away as she did, though the hylotl. “Where is my uniform?”

“It's being repaired as we speak,” the hylotl said as she reached for a nearby tray, holding it out for her. “But here are your belongings that we pulled from the pockets beforehand.”

Vina took the tray off her and looked through it. The pistol, her pixel card, a few loose ends she had accumulated or forgot to throw out, and, much to her relief, the data card, all rested in it.

“Thank you.”

“T'weren't no thing,” responded the novakid from the doorway, startling the apex a little. “So why did those two guys try attackin’ you?”

Vina frowned a little, laying the tray on the bedside table as she sat back down on the bed. “Until I can trust you not to tell anybody, I can't say.”

“You can trust me, pardner-”

The floran sighed, thick fingers stroking his closed eyes. “Dussstin wouldn't be sssilent about what happened to apex to the doctor.”

“She needed t'know what happened!”

“I didn't,” the hylotl interjected. “At least not to the detail you gave.”

“And this is something… important.” Vina interrupted with a raises hand. “Very important.”

“That explainsss why apex didn't want usss to help,” the floran affirmed.

“No it don't,” the novakid objected.

“Dussstin, if it isss something she doesss not want to talk about then don't presssure her.”

Vina sighed again. “How about this. Unless everyone in this room can promise me not to blather about it to every stranger they meet-” she levelled a glare at ‘Dustin’ “-then for everyone's safety, I'll have to stay silent.”

“I should leave you to it then,” the hylotl doctor said as she took her leave from the room, waiting outside.

The other two, though, remained as they were.

“You can keep your mouths shut about this, right?”

They looked at each other. The floran cocked an eyebrow to his friend and the novakid shrugged.

“Floran can keep sssecret.”

“Guess I can try?”

Vina narrowed her eyes. The novakid raised his hand in defence. “I mean, I ain't kept any big secrets before so I dunno, but I promise I won't tell a soul.”

“You had better not,” Vina grunted. Then, she relented and explained everything they needed to hear. Her status as a rebel, the vital importance of the datacard, and her need to decrypt it.

The floran seemed to follow it. Harder to say with his glowing friend, but he was nodding and going ‘uh huh’ and ‘ayep’ so that had to count for something.

The floran was the first to comment afterwards. “Ssso, would Apex like help with thisss?”

Vina shook her head. “This is an important mission, but I can't risk your lives for it.”

Dustin laughed, the reverb in his voice clearly audible. “We can look after ourselves, pardner. ‘Sides, it's a big ol’ galaxy and havin’ friends is good for it.”

“Plusss,” the floran addes, “it meansss Apex hasss friends to make sure Apex doesssn't fail missssion.”

Vina leaned back on her hands as she mulled their words over. They were right, but she still wasn't sure if she was ready to have anyone follow her. She knew nothing about these two, what they stood for, or who was employing them, if anyone. She briefly recalled the traitor apex, and she feared the same betrayal could happen again should she trust them.

Furthermore, she only had room enough for one, maybe two beds on her ship. It wouldn't be hard to get it expanded, but there still lied the issue of getting the FTL functioning, which wouldn't be cheap.

“Soooo…?” Dustin asked, snapping her back to reality.

“I'll… need some time to organise my ship, assuming you don't follow me in yours, and I need to have the FTL drive repaired.”

“Could always take the crystal from ours and put it in yours,” Dustin proposed. “And we can sell ours fer bits.”

“That… could work,” Vina concurred. “Assuming you want to go so far.” She looked to the floran, who had a hand against his chin.

“Floran would prefer to travel ssstars on ship not held together with vinesss,” he stated. “Though I would like to grab some thingsss firssst.”

“And iffin’ y’all want, we can chip in fer the fixin’ to yer ship too. We got some spare pixels, right?”

“You don't have to do that,” Vina said, a little too quickly. “It's my ship, it's my responsibility, and I've already got enough to repair the damage.”

“But it isss going to be our ship, and if you need to get your card thing to sssomeone quickly, then let usss help.”

“It's really not-”

Dustin put his hands on his hips, looking(?) at her directly. “Y'all gonna keep bein’ as stubborn as a mule or y'all gonna let us help ya?”

Vina stammered, then sighed. She was being stubborn, wasn't she? She had the perfect opportunity to get her ship in working order and better than ever, and here she was, denying it. She wasn't sure if it was pride or paranoia, but it wasn't helping whichever it was.

So, she pushed her misgivings aside and nodded. “Very well, but only if you have the funds to spare.”

* * *

The air beyond the yellow and black sealant was tinged with the scent of freshly-worked metal, the new rear end of the ship seamlessly attached, given that none of them were asphyxiating.

“Nice li'l place you got here,” Dustin commented as he began to wander around, looking at, and inside, everything. Vina rolled her eyes as she grabbed one of the self-made workbenches and dragged it into the new space, with help offered and taken from the floran.

“What are your names?” she asked, grunting as she put the bench down.

“Thornvine,” said the floran, smiling as warmly as his face would let him.

“I'm Dustin. Dustin Dioxide.” The novakid bowed politely, even tipping his hat to her. Cute.

“Vina Kovalsky.” She dusted her hands off and worked instead on moving the stone furnace she made to the rear end of the ship. “I only have a single bed down on the surface, which I'll bring up here. Do you two have your own beds?”

Thornvine nodded as he moved an entire bench on his own, then aided her with the furnace. “Floran hasss sleeping bag. As doesss Dussstin.”

“We should make you some proper beds,” Vina commented. “Or buy you some proper ones not made of poorly-crafted wood.”

“Don't sweat over it, pardner, I'm used to roughing it.” Dustin finally joined in on the effort and, after a handful more minutes, and a jaunt down to the planet's surface, everything had been organised, rough as it was. Bed up front near the pilot's seat, a shower and toilet had been set near the back with a simple screen put up both between and in front of them, and all of the workbenches had been put wherever they fit.

It was a mess, but it was better than nothing.

“Ssso, where will Apex head firssst?”

Vina shrugged as she took her seat. “First of all, more supplies and materials. We'll check the other planets in this system for better materials and equipment. Make sure we're not rushing any fortifications with low-quality armour.” She paused again. “Plus, we need to find another rebel camp, and unfortunately I don't know of any nearby, so we'll have to go look.”

“Sounds good to me!” Dustin shouted. “Let's get ridin’ then.”

With but a few button presses, the on-board S.A.I.L. took over, guiding the ship out of orbit , calculating the course, and priming the newly-repaired FTL for a short jump to the next planet over.

“Why ain't you grabbin’ the controls?”

“Do... novakid ships not have autopilot?” Vina queried.

“Nnnnno?”

“That's…” Vina started, but just gave up with a ‘huh’, as the ship hit FTL and lurched through space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's 2 of 10 or so done. Now to get to writing the third! Don't expect that to come out too soon but it'll be on the way at least.

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter should come out soonish, about a week after this is posted, maybe less, maybe more.


End file.
